Own a piece of rural history: traditional Irish furniture up for auction

Fans of house renovation programmes on TV will be familiar with creative reuse of old pieces of furniture – some of which were discarded by previous generations. Recent examples include how shop counters have been incorporated into kitchen design and how bar furniture can be used for quirky outdoor spaces.

The National Museum of Ireland’s Decorative Arts and History branch at Collins Barracks in Dublin has an interesting exhibition of so-called Irish vernacular furniture. Central to the display is the reconstruction of a typical kitchen found in traditional rural Irish homes. Interestingly, the hearth – and not the kitchen table – was the centre point of the home. This was where cooking, eating, socialising and storytelling took place. And wooden stools, chairs and settle beds (high-backed seats that transform into beds at night) were positioned close to this heat source.

Some homes also had a dowry chest that was used by young women to collect linen, blankets and other personal belongings in anticipation of married life. Tables did not become common until late in the 19th century and even then were generally kept to the side of the room, against a wall rather than in the centre as was common in English farmhouses.

A painted pine housekeepers cupboard (€800-€1,200)

According to the curators at the museum, pine dressers were the most prominent pieces of furniture in rural Irish homes as the items on it displayed the household’s wealth and status. The exhibition has some fine examples of dressers with ceramic wares, such as willow-pattern platters, sponge ware and transfer-pattern mugs and plates and earthenware bowls and jugs – items that regular auction attendees will be familiar with. The National Museum of Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo, also has an exhibition entitled Hearth and Home that includes Irish country furniture.

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Enthusiasts of furniture from rural Irish homes will have an opportunity to buy pieces at the upcoming Adam’s auction of Irish vernacular furniture, which will start to close on Wednesday April 16th from 11am.

The broad range of items – which will be on view on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm-5pm and on Monday/Tuesday from 10am-5pm in Adam’s showrooms on St Stephen’s Green, Dublin – includes everything from painted timber toys and carved painted duck decoys (originally placed in the water to lure live ducks into shooting range on lakes, these elegant pieces have become collectables) to wheelbarrows and cast-iron gates. Beekeepers will also be fascinated by a woven straw bee skep (€200-€400). Similar to an upturned basket, skeps were used to keep bees as they formed their naturally curving honeycomb inside. Popular in the 1800s, their use was discontinued because the bees had to be killed before removing the honey comb.

Farmhouse dressers also feature, as do various pieces of painted pine furniture. These pieces include a 19th-century painted pine “meat safe” cupboard (€500-€800), which were popular before the advent of refrigerators, a painted pine housekeeper’s cupboard (€800-€1,200) and a 19th-century painted pine worktable (€200-€300).

There are also plenty of chairs, stools and benches. One piece of note is a 19th-century súgán chair (€100-€150). These traditional Irish chairs, which had a wooden frame with a woven straw or rush seat and back rest, are popular again and some people even make contemporary versions of them. Nigel Barnes, a west Clare furniture restorer, offers courses in making súgán chairs and other traditional chairs from scratch over two days in his workshop (oldchairs.ie).

Treasure trove in Portlaoise

Meanwhile, lovers of architectural salvage and antique, vintage and retro furniture and curios from the last two or three centuries won’t be disappointed by a stop-off at the Store Yard in Kea-Lew business and retail park on the Mountrath Road in Portlaoise, Co Laois.

The large warehouse is a treasure trove of everything from chaise longues to church pews, botanical prints to finials, classical busts and Grand-Tour specimen marble eggs. There are also some pieces of traditional Irish furniture such as two 19th-Century painted pine dressers – one for €1,450 and the other for €1,850.

David Keane, owner of the Store Yard, says the business developed from a hobby when the recession hit his building firm in 2008. “We have buyers from all over Ireland and we rent out a lot of furniture for period dramas which is the most profitable side of the business because we get things back,” he says.

Visitors to the warehouse – which is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30am-5pm and by appointment on Mondays – might spot some items which appeared in the Banshees of Inisherin, which starred Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.

Collectables in Gorey

Finally, there is an antiques and collectables fair in the Amber Springs Hotel in Gorey, Co Wexford on Sunday. Dealers will be selling everything from antique furniture to vintage jewellery and silverware from 12pm-5.30pm. Admission is €3.50. The organisers of the fair will also host the Leinster Antiques and Vintage Fair in the Pillo Hotel in Ashbourne, Co Meath from 11am to 5.30pm on Sundays, May 4th and 11th. See vintageireland.eu for schedules of other antiques and vintage fairs later in the year.